Here are some images we find useful and informative

How tall is an Industrial Wind Turbine?

"How to Destroy a Mesa" or "What We Can Expect".

Here are some aerial photos of the High Lonesome Industrial Wind Facility on the Mesa de los Jumanos at the south end of the Estancia Basin (#5 on the map below), taken by local resident, artist and engineer, Bill Dolson. His commentary is included. Click an image to see a larger version. For more information, images and impressions of this facility, please see our High Lonesome page.

6/16/09
The first two photos are looking to the South from north of the facility. You can see that the first row of turbines is located right on the edge of the mesa. This is done to take advantage of the compression and acceleration of the surface winds when they are blowing towards that face of the mesa. Also visible is the extensive clearing around the base of each turbine and the network of interconnecting roads.

The third photo is looking to the East and again shows the amount of clearing done and the interconnecting road network. It shows how the edge of the mesa along the turbines is pretty much completely denuded.

The fourth photo is looking to the Northwest. It also shows how the turbines run along the edge of the mesa, completely dominating the view of that land feature.

I know this mesa well. It is a prominent feature from most of the Estancia basin and I had a great view of it from my old ranch near Tajique. In fact, one year I sent a Christmas card photo which had the mesa in the background. I don't think I'd be doing that now.

With regard to the siting of the turbines right on the edge of the mesa, this is universal with industrial wind facilities I have seen around the state. As I indicated, there are sound engineering reasons to locate the turbines on the edge of an upslope.

With the exception of one ranch headquarters which is probably at least a mile from the facility, below the mesa, there are NO occupied structures that I could see for many miles. Certainly there are no villages or settlements within many miles of the facility. The closest town is Willard which is 8 miles distant.

Industrial wind turbines can go up in flames when their gearboxes overheat.

"Okay, Chief, how are we going to fight this fire?"
"Well, obviously we can't. All we can do is let it burn itself out, and try to contain it from spreading into the forest.And, to be safe, we should advise residents downwind to avoid the toxic smoke."